Portion Control

One reason so many people in America are gaining weight is because of a lack of knowledge when it comes to portion control. This is something I have really had to learn throughout the last five years of losing weight. Before, I would eat a HUGE bowl of sugar cereal in the morning in one of those huge bowls that seem very common nowadays, which equals to about 2 1/2-3 cups of cereal. Now, I try to follow the recommendations for serving sizes so conveniently located on the nutritional information. I admonish everyone to READ READ READ the nutritional information before you eat. Read what the serving size is. Often we look at a package of something and it says 150 calories and we think "Sweet!" but we don't look at the serving size, which may say 2 oz, and the WHOLE package equals 8 oz-- making the snack to be very high calorie if we consume the whole bag. Make sense?

You don't need to memorize a food list or carry around measuring cups to get a better grasp on serving sizes. Instead, use common visual cues to remind yourself of appropriate serving sizes. How? Many foods match up to everyday objects. For example, a medium pepper is about the size of a baseball and equals one vegetable serving.

FRUIT= SIZE OF A TENNIS BALL

1/2 CUP OF VEGETABLES= SIZE OF A BASEBALL

PASTA/RICE= SIZE OF A HOCKEY PUCK

DAIRY/CHEESE= 3-4 DICE

MEAT/PROTEIN= DECK OF CARDS

MAYO/FATS/NUTS= 3 DICE

This may seem like REALLY small portions but that is because we go to restaurants and they serve us portions that are about 2-3 times bigger than what our body actually NEEDS. So it's all about training your stomach to appreciate what it really needs. One trick I always use is to drink a big glass of water before I eat a meal. It helps me feel full and eat less.